Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, said the bill seeks to clarify the difference between educational property and commercial property owned by the university.

“This would allow Yale to be treated the same as other institutions in Connecticut and across the country,” Lemar said.

Yale, in testimony submitted to the state Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, said it already invests considerable resources and money in New Haven; tax exemption law has long been settled and the proposed bill is unconstitutional.

“Yale is deeply disappointed that the Finance Committee of the General Assembly voted today to make Connecticut the first state in the country to tax academic property of nonprofit colleges and universities,” said Tom Conroy, a spokesman for the university. “The academic property of Yale – classrooms, dormitories, laboratories, and so on – is and should remain exempt from taxation.”

“The legislation is a step backward. It would diminish Yale’s ability to invest in the community and discourage faculty from launching companies (or staying in New Haven). It is ultimately an attack on nonprofit colleges and universities that are among the best assets in Connecticut,” he said. “Yale hopes that the General Assembly will reject this ill-advised legislation.”

Lemar admitted the bill is controversial mostly because Yale’s tax exempt status as constitutionally protected is different than the tax exempt status of most universities. However, like those other universities, there’s no intention to tax educational buildings or dormitories, he said.

But Republican lawmakers, such as Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich, said it’s a “slippery slope.”

He said he doesn’t believe Yale is profitable without its endowment. He said they operate at a loss every year and make voluntary payments to New Haven and do “incredible things” for the community.

Legislation that would allow the state to tax Yale University’s estimated $25.6 billion endowment was never called for a vote and is essentially dead.

But New Haven lawmakers and New Haven Mayor Toni Harp had been pushing for both pieces of legislation this session.

Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, has said Yale’s property exemption in New Haven totals $2.5 billion. She said the cuts proposed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to higher education total $135 million, but if Yale paid the state $78 million, that would cut it in half.

Yale currently voluntarily pays about $8.2 million to New Haven. The university also is New Haven’s fourth-highest property taxpayer for commercial property it owns, paying $4.5 million to the city in 2014.